


This is Awkward

by dyingpoet



Series: Sprace one shots [36]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coffee Shops, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: Someone fell asleep in the coffee shop where Spot works and it's closing time





	This is Awkward

**Author's Note:**

> okay yea this is a coffee shop au but it is NOT cliche bc i have never seen this done before so HA

“I’d bet you five dollars he sleeps until close.”

Spot glared at Jack as he walked past Spot, flashing him a grin over his shoulder before grabbing his bag and leaving Spot alone. More specifically, leaving Spot alone with the guy who had fallen asleep two hours ago, in a coffee place which Spot was definitely sure he’d never been to before, and who hadn’t woken up yet. 

It had been sort of funny at first, Spot had had a nice conversation with the guy while he waited for his drink. Some might call it flirting, mainly Jack, but it was nice so honestly the label didn’t really matter, that wasn’t the point anyway. So, he’d gotten his drink and had been reading some textbook at a table in the corner for an hour or so before he started nodding off. The day had been slow so him and Jack had been pretty invested in this thing for the last couple hours. They called it ‘Coffee Gate’, it was a pretty good time actually.

But now two hours had passed since he’d passed out on top of his book, they were ten minutes until close, and the place was completely empty except for the two of them. It was the nightmare scenario. 

To be fair, he’d said that to Jack, who’d gone off about how he was exaggerating and that he could probably just drop something really loud to avoid any awkwardness. Jack had conveniently left though, and the two of them had both tried dropping stuff near the guy, who it turned out was a very heavy sleeper, with no luck. 

So, for the last ten minutes before close, Spot had bitten his nails down to the quick, made himself two cups of coffee, and still hadn’t woken the guy up. He entertained the idea of just locking up with him inside, but they could probably get sued. 

Leaning over the counter, Spot downed his last sip of coffee before tossing the cup and taking a deep inhale. “Just bite the bullet, Conlon.”

He made his way over to the table, making more noise than necessary in a sort of last ditch attempt, and sat down awkwardly on the chair across from the guy.

“Hey,” he said, clearing his throat a little. The guy didn’t move and he jostled the table a little underneath him. “Hey, dude.”

That got nothing too, and Spot let out a whine and took a deep sigh before leaning over and shaking the guy’s shoulder. “Dude, we’re closing.”

The guy just barely stirred at that, and Spot shook him harder for a second, pulling back quickly when he saw his eyes blink open.

“What?” The guy mumbled, head just lifting of the table and Spot was afraid he was going to fall back asleep again. But, after a second of looking around he sat up, jerking his chair back from how fast he’d done it, and looked around in confusion before his eyes landed on Spot. “Oh shit.”

Spot chuckled nervously, the weird rush of anxious adrenaline fading and leaving him shaky. “Yeah, you passed out.”

“For how long?”

Spot looked up at the clock as if he didn’t already know the time; he did. “About three hours? We’re closing now.”

The guy raked a hand through his hair and started shoving his stuff into a backpack he’d hung on the back of the chair.. “I’m sorry man, I totally didn’t mean to, I guess I was just more tired than I thought.”

Spot chuckled despite himself and the guy looked up, grinning.

“Sorry to keep you late.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s barely a minute past,” Spot said, standing up when the guy got all of his things and stood up. “I still have a couple things to clean up anyway.”

The guy nodded and pulled out his phone, typing something out while he leaned back against the table.

Shifting uncomfortably, Spot looked down at his own phone, scrolling through nothing in a pretty bad attempt to look busy. He had actually lied about having stuff to do, everything had been done about an hour ago, but he didn’t want to say that to the guy. In his mind, the normal human being thing to do when someone tells you the place you’re in is closing, is to leave. The guy didn’t get that apparently. 

When he looked up though, Spot softened a little because he looked like a mixture of embarrassed and awkward, which was probably fair in this situation. 

“Is there anyway I can wait here for a Lyft?” he asked, and Spot’s face must have given away how exhausted he was because the guy rushed out, “It’s just that the guy that dropped me off went out for the night, and I  _ would  _ walk but it’s only like fifteen degrees outside right now, and the subway is shitty at this time of night-”

“Dude,” Spot said, smiling a little bit when the guy started to ramble, “you’re good, do you just want a ride?”

He was offering a ride to a stranger, yes, that much was true. But, he didn’t seem like a serial killer, and Spot was in no way saying Jack had been right when he was teasing him earlier, but the guy was cute. A little. It didn’t even matter, really. 

At the offer, the guy’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, I don’t want to make you go out of your way or anything-”

“I doubt it’s out of my way,” Spot said with absolutely no way of knowing that. “Where do you live by?”

“The East Village? Just outside of NYU.”

Spot nodded and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Yeah, I live in Greenwich, it’s close enough.”

“You really-”

“Lyft drivers are shady,” Spot said as he tossed his keys a little in his hand. “You could end up dead in a ditch somewhere.”

The guy ducked his head and laughed a little, looking back up at Spot and crossing his arms. “And the background check system here is so intense, huh?”

“Obviously.”

The guy smiled, still biting at his lip like he was unsure. “I guess you can drive me then, I can pay for gas or something though.”

Spot snorted and started for the door, hearing footsteps follow behind him. “Yeah, you can Paypal me the fifty cents it takes to get from here to the East Village.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

They both walked out and Spot hissed at the cold, the guy had been right. “Shit man.”

The guy nodded as he stuffed his hands in his pockets while Spot locked the door. 

“Hey that reminds me, what’s your name anyway?” Spot asked. The damn key was jamming in the lock, they needed a new one. 

“Anthony, but most people call me Race.”

Spot finally got the door to lock and he turned and smiled a little at that. “Yeah, I’m Sean but most people call me Spot.”

“Those childhood nicknames are fun, aren’t they?” 

Spot shook his head and started for the car. “Oh yeah, haven’t been able to shake that one since fourth grade.”

“I feel that,” Race agreed. He didn’t have on much of a coat, or any gloves, so he hopped in the car quickly once Spot unlocked the doors. “Thanks again for this.”

Closing the door once he got in himself, Spot turned on the car and cranked up the heat. “No problem.”

It was a fifteen minute drive or so to Race’s place, he’d typed the address into Spot’s phone while they waited for the car to warm up, and as it so happened, the rambling didn’t just happen when Race was nervous. 

“So my friend Albert made me take this stupid fucking geology class with him right?” Race said, gesturing wildly as he did so. “And it’s a four o’clock class, so I don’t even get out until six.”

“Why’d you even agree to take it?” Spot asked. He’d actually gotten pretty invested in this whole thing, Race was turning out to be a great storyteller.

“Because he went off on this whole thing about how he would be so alone and he hates all the kids in his major and blah, blah, blah,  _ whatever _ ,” Race said, angling himself in his seat so he could face Spot. “And so we leave class today and he tells me he’s meeting up with his boyfriend at this place on the Upper East Side, right?”

Spot nodded and Race sighed before continuing. 

“So he’s all like ‘I’ll drop you off somewhere so you can study, we won’t even be gone that long’ and then they go off to a bar and get  _ messed up _ , and text me they’re sorry or whatever, they tried to call me too but I didn’t wanna have some hour long conversation with the two of them drunk, and so yeah, here we are.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head, thankfully not seeing Spot, who had been smiling like an idiot throughout that whole story. The thing had taken the whole car ride and Spot could have told it himself in about thirty seconds. It was hilarious and adorable and he actually felt a little bit disappointed when he pulled up in front of Race’s apartment building a few seconds later.

Race reached back and grabbed his bag from Spot’s backseat. “Thanks for giving me a ride.”

“No problem.”

Once he got all of his stuff he sat for a second, looking at Spot like he wanted to say something, and Spot frowned. “What?”

Biting his lip, Race shifted a little in his seat. “Uh, when do you work next?”

“Tomorrow, why?” 

“Maybe I could stop by?” Race said carefully, picking up on the rambling a beat later. “Like we could get something to eat after close, maybe? You don’t have to if you don’t want, and you might have plans or something already so you really  _ don’t  _ have to, but-”

“Race,” Spot said, cutting him off with a raised hand. “I’d like that.”

Smiling, Race nodded and pushed open his door. “Great, I’ll see you then.”

“See you.”

He got out, slamming the door shut behind him, and Spot watched him unlock his door and get into the building. As he pulled out, he cursed at himself a little bit because he hadn’t mentioned that he was working a morning shift tomorrow. Race’s face had lit up when he agreed to go out though, and if he had to endure a few minutes of Jack gloating while he waited, then that was that, he supposed. 

**Author's Note:**

> did yall like this?? hmu if you did w kudos/comments!!! i love all of u!!!!


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